business
Infection control systems used mostly for government reporting
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Sept. 10, 2012
A report released by KLAS, a health care research organization based in Orem, Utah, found that the majority of hospitals with an infection control system say they use it for mandatory government reporting. Very few are using the system to monitor hospital-acquired infection rates.
The report, “Infection Control 2012: Breaking the Barriers and Getting Value,” published in August, found that 70% of the hospitals that do not have an infection control system in place say they haven’t been able to justify the cost of installing such a system.
The report authors say government incentives and value-based purchasing may dramatically change the use of the systems, as it might become a requirement. They also note that vendors have a lot of work to do to improve the infection control systems so they bring more value to the organizations that adopt them.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2012/09/10/bibf0910.htm.
